By KYLE HIGHTOWER, Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)—There have been times this season when then Orlando Magic have allowed teams to get back into games by erasing their big leads.
Usually, they’ve been able to lean on All-Star center Dwight Howard to get them through their jagged moments.
The Magic ran into another one against Cleveland, but did just fine without him this time in beating the Cavaliers 93-80 on Friday night.
Ryan Anderson scored 17 points and Howard added 16 points and 13 rebounds to lead the way. All five starters scored in double figures as the Magic sizzled shooting the ball early, improving to 18-3 when that occurs.
Anderson said crisp ball movement put Orlando in good position at the right times against the Cavs.
“This is when we can play the best and I think our defense really translated well on the offensive end,” he said. “We got some easy buckets on the other end.”
With just about a month to go in the season, Anderson said that the playoffs are already on the minds of the Magic players.
That was evident in the middle of first quarter when Hedo Turkoglu was caught giving a lackadaisical effort as Alonzo Gee drove past him and in for a layup.
As Turkoglu turned to run up the court, he was met with audible discontent from a couple of his teammates.
Turkoglu said afterwards he didn’t take offense to any of the chastising and that it is all part of the team developing a playoff mentality.
“Guys are gonna scream and yell. That’s how you become a team,” he said. “We’ve gotta help each other. Guys are going to make mistakes and you gotta recover and not do it again. In that situation, we had to be on the same page and we just moved on.”
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